Stabbing victim shuns hospital, heads to Occupy SF

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A Tenderloin resident who was stabbed by a robber apparently decided to take a cab to the medical tent in San Francisco’s Occupy camp instead of heading to a nearby hospital.

The woman, who was attacked near the intersection of Eddy and Hyde, and her husband took a cab to the downtown camp around 3:20 a.m. Tuesday, police said. The camp’s on-duty medic called 911 and paramedics took the woman to San Francisco General Hospital.

No one knows why she chose to head to the camp, roughly 2.5 miles away, and not the St. Francis Medical Center, which is just a little more than a half-mile away.

“Dunno. That’s a good question,” said San Francisco police Sgt. Michael Andraychak.

Carl Berger, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who has been living at the Occupy SF camp for the last week, was equally perplexed.

Berger, who was standing watch when the woman came to the camp’s medical tent, assumed she was stabbed closer to the camp, saw the red cross on the side of the tent and just wandered in.

Berger said he quickly evaluated the woman and called 911, knowing she needed to be taken to a hospital. Neither she or her husband had much to say, he said.

Still, he said he was impressed she thought to come all the way to their camp from the Tenderloin. Berger said he’s already helped a number of homeless who have simple injuries like a sprained ankle or need a toothbrush.

“It is showing that this is not just helping the local community or the Occupy community, but a lot of people in San Francisco,” he said. “We’re filling a niche that is out there for for homeless people who can’t afford an ambulance or a ride to the hospital.”